Ghana PL stars don't merit Black Stars call-up, says Akunnor

The former midfielder believes local players don't meet the mark to be part of the Black Stars due to a ‘poor’ domestic league

Ashanti Gold coach C.K Akunnor has insisted that Ghana Premier League has terribly depleted over the years, leading to the failure to breed quality players for the Black Stars.

Akunnor, who rose through the ranks of the senior national team to become the captain, believes the football association and government must double their efforts to save the situation.

"Our local league is on and off and I don't think it's good for the players. Today we play, the next minute we go on break. The league as I see it has been dead for some time now because it is not improving the players and officiating are also not helping to improve the players," Akunnor told Happy FM.

"We must check all these things. I think it's hindering the progress of the players. We have to put adequate measures to ensure that we curb these situations for us to move forward but if not that then we'll keep going one step forward, five steps backwards.

Article continues below

"We've shot ourselves in the foot far too long and it's time we put a stop to it. But we've accepted our shabby way of managing our local league and we're comfortable with it, meanwhile, at the end of the day it's affecting us negatively."

He added: "At the end of the local league every season and players are called upon to play for the [senior] national team, then it becomes a headache for the coach because they're not good enough. We're not improving. We must wake up, the FA, government and we as lovers of the game because our local league is at its lowest ebb."

Ghana have suffered a poor start to the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, sitting third in Group E and are expected to travel to Brazzaville on Monday ahead of the second leg against Congo.